Heisei Emperor's Vietnam Visit

This past Tuesday saw the arrival of Emperor Akihito & Empress Michiko in Vietnam. He is the first Japanese Emperor to visit there since the end of the Japanese Occupation during WWII. It has been the mission of the Emperor to visit many of the countries Japan once occupied to help heal old wounds and pray for both Japan's war dead as well as for those who fought against them in hopes of promoting lasting peace. What makes this trip so significant is one of purposes of this visit relating to WWII. It is said that at war's end in 1945 that some 700 Japanese soldiers chose to remain in Vietnam to stay with their Vietnamese wives and families. The Emperor is said to meet with a dozen or so surviving widows of those Japanese Soldiers. History records that when the French returned to Vietnam that many of these former IJA soldiers helped the Viet Minh fight the French offering their military expertise. By the time Communist forces of Ho Chi Minh defeated the French in 1954, half of those Japanese Soldiers died from fighting or illness. Another group of 71 left Vietnam without their families. By 1960, all former remaining IJA soldiers were forced to leave Vietnam. This is a curious story that we wish we could find more information for but happy to share this story here. We at American Mishima continue to wish the Emperor success in his enduring peace mission so that all souls lost from the Showa Era and the war that consumed is be at peace.

Right Ruling - Wrong Response

Seen here is the PRC's newest Type 025D Destroyer Yinchuan (DD*-175). This advanced vessel said to rival the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers was commissioned in the port of Sanya, Hainan Province hours after the PRC soundly rejected the Hague's International ruling against the PRC's claims in the South China Sea. The official statement reads: "With regard to the award rendered on 12 July 2016 by the International Tribunal in the South China Sea arbitration established at the unilateral request of the Republic of the Philippines…the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China solemnly declares that the award is null and void and has no binding force. China neither accepts nor recognizes it." As if things could not be more tense, Beijing further threatens the disputed region with establishing a Air defense Zone to defend its man made island bases built atop coral reefs in international waters. Clearly this is not helping de-escallate growing tensions.

While the International Court has no way to enforce the ruling dismissing China's historical claims to economic zones as it's own sovereign territory consuming 90% of the South China Seas, this does look bad for the PRC. But this has been a crisis of their own making which goes further than annexing a small land locked country as its own province based on an old map. In the end this is all about business and how far will one country will push its neighbors and the International community at large to the brink of war to gain an economic advantage over its competitors. As it stands, fishermen from Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia have clashed with Chinese vessels and there has been bloodshed. 

While the Vietnamese Navy has done little to protect its fishermen, the Philippines have taken the PRC to court and won. Score one for the little guy right? Morally this stands as a victory for the sovereign rights of a small country that's been violated by a larger power but this is far from over. As Beijing plays both victim and aggressor, further rights of navigation passage flights will continue.We hope that someone in Beijing pulls back on this and cooler heads prevail. Nobody wants a war. But you wouldn't know that with the talk coming out of China. Let's hope this doesn't get further out of hand resulting in the loss of life and prosperity.

一日の画像 - Picture of the Day

Seen here: President Obama visiting the Venerable Mingtsung Shih at Phuoc Hai Temple in Vietnam. Our good friend Mr. Tony Truong had the pleasure of working with the Venerable Mingtsung for a Yoga "Flaming Mouth Service" when he visited the United States years ago. We at American Mishima hope this meeting will have been blessed for the President's continued goodwill tour of Asia.

Remembering My Father

It was three years ago that I got the call that my father had passed away in the night. He went quickly from Pulmonary Fibrosis which doctors link to a scarring of his lungs from a "toxic substance" at the ages of 25-26. It was during the ages of 25-26 that my father Luis Eduardo Rosas-Luca was then an Avionics Specialist 4th Class serving in the United States Army in Vietnam where he had been repeatedly been exposed to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange in an effort to deprive the Viet Cong of the sanctuary of the jungle for cover. My father lived an extraordinary life despite being shortened by ten years, he left large shoes to fill which to this day I continue to struggle to fill.

Since that time I had attempted to unite the surviving family in vain. No one can say I didn't try. But in that time I did accomplish one mission he never completed and that was to return of W.O. Douglas Niles's dog tags which I took to the Vietnam Memorial Wall when I went there this last June to induct my father into the Vietnam Memorial Fund's Virtual Honor Roll. And while some of my efforts bore no lasting fruit, the work continues as we work on a screen play dramatizing the story of his tour in Vietnam and continue to sell copies of his book MY FATHERS WAR IN VIETNAM AND THE LONG SHADOW OF THE HON CONG MOUNTAIN. And as we hold a private memorial service for him today at our Koyasan Buddhist Temple (for which he was given the honor of being presented a posthumous Buddhist name) we continue to remember all that he had taught us and the example by which he chose to live by. We hope somewhere out there he's pleased with our efforts. But there is much more to do and we must be ever mindful that as we continue to carry on his legacy, we too are creating our own legacy and must never forget those who came before us and showed us how to live. Until we meet again, smile from heaven dad because we are thinking of you.

Just as my fingernails are stained with the pigment from balsam flowers,
my heart is painted with the teachings of my parents.
Although the stars in the sky are countable,
the teachings of my parents are not.
Just as ships that run in the night are guided to safety by the North star,
I am guided by my parents who gave birth to me and watch over me. 

-Chinsagu No Hana

Upping the Ante: China to build 1st Domesticly Constructed Aircraft Carrier?

As 2015 readies to enter the history books, 2016 looks ahead to more tension in the South China Seas as rumors circulate on the internet of the PRC building it's first domestically produced aircraft carrier. Word has it the Chinese Navy is looking to construct four of these large carriers in addition to the recently deployed former Soviet Navy carrier now renamed Liaoning into service. While many are calling this latest development a potential nightmare for the U.S. Navy, rest assured that while the Chinese have money they do not have the experience or technical know how to build a carrier that could rival our new Ford Class carriers. This none the less will present a challenge to the the U.S. Navy and Japan's JMSDF who at present have two Izumo Class carriers (Izumo & Kaga) but lack the capability to launch fixed wing aircraft due to the restrictions of Article 9 of Japan's American imposed post war constitution. This is exactly what the Abe government needs to emphasize to the the people of Japan that their country and national interests are for the first time since WWII under serious threat from across the sea. In our opinion, the defeatist attitudes of Anti-Abe / Anti-War Pacifists currently protesting the slow re-arming of Japan's small yet capable "Self Defense Forces" are not in tune with the alarming developments on the part of the Chinese Navy. Beijing is counting on the Anti-Abe protesters to instill fears of a certain catastrophic defeat like the one Japan endured at the end of August 1945 should any confrontation with China's Navy happen. This of course is Baka! They do this because while they may not fear today's small  JMSDF, they do fear the idea of Japan's small military becoming powerful enough to resurrect the fears of Japan's aggressive past that saw a brutal occupation of Mainland China. But that was then and this is now.

While China's new rumored carriers are years away from completion, they still have one capable carrier that has already put out to sea. Neither the Governments of the Philippines or Vietnam have the muscle (or in Vietnam's case the political will) to meet these challenges poised by Beijing. So like it or not, it is up to the United States Navy and Japan's JMSDF to keep the peace and freedom of movement in the air and on the high seas of the international waters of the South China Seas.While this problem will most certainly get out of hand, we at American Mishima will pray for peace and hopes that Japan continues to upgrade it's SDF so that cooler heads will prevail.

50 Years Ago This Week: America Enters The Vietnam War

It was 50 years ago this week in 1965 that then Resident Lyndon Baines Johnson announced on American Television that he would be sending the Air Mobile Division to Vietnam thus embarking our nation to a war few people understood yet wanted to fight that tore our nation apart. 

Here is an excerpt from that famous speech:

"We intend to convince the Communists that we cannot be defeated by force of arms or by superior power. They are not easily convinced. In recent months they have greatly increased their fighting forces and their attacks and the number of incidents. I have asked the Commanding General, General Westmoreland, what more he needs to meet this mounting aggression. He has told me. We will meet his needs.

I have today ordered to Viet-Nam the Air Mobile Division and certain other forces which will raise our fighting strength from 75,000 to 125,000 men almost immediately. Additional forces will be needed later, and they will be sent as requested."

Among the many men of the 1st Air Cavalry Air Mobile Division that would be sent halfway around the world to Vietnam was my late father Luis E. Rosas-Luca seen here from his bunk aboard the troop ship that took him to the war zone.

Memory Day 2015

This year as in many years passed, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund honored 165 former servicemen who died from service related illnesses connected to the Vietnam War in Washington n D.C. at the Vietnam Memorial. Better known to many as “The Wall,” the Vietnam memorial served as a backdrop for a ceremony that had over 1400people in attendance among them yours truly the son of former 146^th TAW Alumni Luis E. Rosas who had made the journey to honor his father and induct him into the VVMF Virtual Honor Roll which contains the names and pictures of some 2000 Vietnam Veterans who largely died from complications related to their exposure to Agent Orange during their tours of Vietnam. 

Luis’s surviving son American Mishima author Louis Edward Rosas Jr. was accompanied by former U.S. Army Sergeant Jim Beaver who served with Luis Rosas at Fort Benning and at An Khe Vietnam as members of the 1^st Air Cavalry Division, 15^th Transportation Corps Battalion, Delta Company to pay tribute to his service during 1965-1966 as a member of the Avionics Shop which paved the way for a lifetime career in both civilian and military aviation maintenance. This was a deep emotional journey which we plan to write about in a future book titled "A SON'S JOURNEY TO THE WALL."

The Memory Day Service is an annual event. If you have a family member who has passed away from a service related illness from the Vietnam War, you may apply to have them inducted into the Virtual Honor Roll whose names and photos will one day go on display at a future planned VVMF museum set to be constructed adjacent to the Vietnam Memorial Wall. Selected non-perishable items left at The Wall will one day go on display there. 

Since the Wall's construction, people have left everything from teddy bears to dog tags at the base of the Wall. For Louis Rosas Jr. he left the dog tags of his father’s friend he had kept and a newly released paperback copy of his father’s book MY FATHER’S WAR IN VIETNAM AND THE LONG SHADOW OF THE HON CONG MOUNTAIN. He did this so that in his own words as he refers’ to his father gracing the cover:”We did this so long after I am gone, my father’s smile will still be here to greet visitors and in doing do live on.”

To Read about Luis E. Rosas life and service in Vietnam please visit:

MY FATHER'S WAR IN VIETNAM AND THE LONG SHADOW OF THE HON CONG MOUNTAIN

To find out more about the VVMF Memory Day please visit:

VVMF MEMORY DAY